Container held at the border until the GST and duty are paid? Your fast options, compared

The ship’s in, the container’s off, and your broker has just emailed. Your stock won’t be released until the Customs charges are paid. Pre-Christmas orders are waiting, and the bill is bigger than the cash in the account.

Here’s the short version. Split the bill in two before you decide how to fund it. The GST part usually comes back to a GST-registered business in its next return. The duty, levies and fees don’t. Those two halves deserve different kinds of money, and getting that right is most of the battle.

Why is my stock being held, and what am I actually paying?

If you pay Customs shipment by shipment, the charges generally have to be settled before commercial goods are released. Business importers can pay by “individual transaction” (a direct deposit to the Crown account), through a Customs deferred payment account, or through a broker’s deferred credit account, according to Customs’ import payments page. Most smaller importers are on the first option. That’s why the container sits there.

A typical clearance bill has four parts:

Part of the bill	How it’s worked out	Do you get it back?
GST at 15%	On the price paid, plus international freight and insurance, plus any duty (Customs)	Usually yes, in your GST return, if you’re registered and the goods are for your business
Customs duty	A percentage of the goods’ value, set by the tariff for that product and origin; many goods carry none	No. It’s a cost of the stock
Levies and entry fees	Charged per consignment	No
Broker, cartage and port storage	Set by your broker, forwarder and the port	No, apart from the GST on those invoices

Here’s the trade-off nobody mentions. For most importers the GST is the biggest single number on the bill, yet it’s the part that costs you least in the end. You’re paying it now and claiming it back later. Under Inland Revenue’s public ruling BR Pub 22/07, Customs’ own entry records can support that input tax claim. So the real funding question for the GST is: how many weeks until my next GST refund or reduced GST payment?

Which fast options can get the container released?

Seven routes, side by side. Speeds are what’s possible, not promised.

Option	How fast	What it costs you	Watch out for	Verdict
Pay from the account	Same day	Nothing extra, but it drains working capital	Leaving wages, rent or IRD short next week	Best if the buffer genuinely covers it
Broker clears on their account	Often quick, if they agree	Usually a fee or margin on the charges	Not every broker offers credit; terms are short	Ask first, it’s one phone call
Supplier pays duty and delivers (DDP)	Only for future orders	Price is usually higher to cover it	Doesn’t help today’s container	Worth negotiating next time
Draw a line of credit	Same day, if already set up	Pay only for what you draw and for how long	Needs to be in place before the ship arrives	Ideal for regular importers
Short-term unsecured loan	Same-day funding possible for smaller amounts	Fees or interest on the full term	Term longer than the GST refund cycle wastes money	Good for a one-off squeeze
Property-secured loan	$20k to $250k possible same day	Lower cost per dollar, but legal and valuation fees	Overkill for a small bill; your property is on the line	Fits big shipments or several at once
Merchant cash advance	Fast for card-heavy retailers	Usually one of the dearer options	Repayments start straight away from card takings	Last resort for this purpose

Two options that don’t fit: equipment finance, because stock and tax aren’t an asset a lender can secure, and a Customs deferred payment account, because it can’t be set up fast enough for the goods already at the wharf. More on that below.

Not sure which one fits your shipment? Tell us what’s at the port and we’ll match the fastest sensible option.

How long should I borrow for?

Match each half of the bill to the moment it turns back into cash.

The GST half comes back when you file. A monthly GST filer might see it within weeks. A two-monthly filer could wait longer, and a six-monthly filer can wait months, so the “short bridge” is longer for them. Check where your current GST period ends. If the refund (or the lower GST payment) lands in six weeks, a 12-month loan for that portion means paying for months of money you no longer need.

The duty, fees and storage half is part of what the stock costs you. It comes back only as the stock sells. Fund it over your sell-through period, the same rule our stock-buying page uses for the goods themselves.

That’s why a line of credit tends to beat a lump-sum loan for regular importers. You draw for the whole bill, pay down the GST part when the refund lands, and clear the rest as the stock sells. With a fixed short-term loan, check what it costs to repay early. Some fast loans charge a fixed total fee that doesn’t shrink if you pay off early. Our guide to comparing fast loan quotes shows how to put each offer into dollars.

What would this look like for a real shipment?

Illustrative example. A homeware importer in Christchurch brings in a container of summer stock. The goods cost $80k, with $6k of international freight and insurance. For this illustration, say the product attracts duty of 5% of the goods’ value, so $4k. GST is 15% of $90k ($80k + $6k + $4k), which is $13,500. Add broker fees and levies, and the clearance bill comes to roughly $18k.

The account holds $7k, and payroll is due Thursday. The owner files GST monthly, so the $13,500 should come back as an input tax claim in about five weeks. The duty, fees and storage, around $4,500, come back only as the stock sells over the next three months.

Option A: a 12-month unsecured loan for $18k. It’s simple and fast, but the owner pays for 12 months on $13,500 that’s back in the account after five weeks, unless early repayment is cheap.

Option B: a short-term loan sized to the bill, with a firm plan to repay the GST portion from the refund and the rest from December sales. Before signing, the owner checks the early repayment terms in dollars.

Option C: the freight forwarder agrees to clear through its own account on 14-day terms for a fee. That covers most of the gap, and a small draw on the overdraft does the rest.

The owner takes C this time, then sets up a line of credit in January before the autumn containers sail.

All figures are illustrative. Your duty depends on the tariff classification and country of origin, so get the actual number from your broker before you borrow.

Should I set up a Customs deferred payment account for next time?

If you import regularly, almost certainly. Customs’ deferred accounts page says an approved importer can defer duty, GST and certain levies “for up to 7 weeks, with a minimum of 3 weeks”. A whole month’s transactions are settled in one direct debit, due by the 20th of the following month.

Here’s the trade-off. You apply through Business Connect, and a revenue officer reviews the application. Credit limits from $25,000 to $100,000 need a signed balance sheet, and larger limits need a signed financial statement. Trusts and overseas-registered companies must provide a guarantee, and Customs may ask anyone else for one. Security is usually sized at about two months of deferred charges and can be a guarantee from a New Zealand bank or finance company, or a cash deposit. Pay late and Customs can charge penalties and interest, enforce the security, and even take or sell the goods. Go more than 20% over your limit and new entries are rejected.

For a busy importer, that seven-week window can line up neatly with a monthly GST refund. Getting a guarantee in place may itself need funding or security, so plan it during a quiet month, not with a ship on the horizon.

What should I do in the next 24 hours?

1. Get the itemised clearance bill from your broker: GST, duty, levies, fees, and the date storage charges start.
2. Ask the broker whether they’ll clear on their own account, and what that costs.
3. Check your GST filing period so you know when the GST portion should come back.
4. Work out the storage cost per day. That’s what waiting costs you. Compare it with what fast funding costs you.
5. Size the funding to the bill, not to a round number, and choose a term that matches when each half comes back.
6. If you’ll borrow, have your last few months of bank statements, the clearance bill and the supplier invoice ready. Our fast funding comparer ranks the options in about a minute.

Get the container moving, and the next one sorted

A container stuck behind a Customs bill is a cash-timing problem, not a sign the business is in trouble. The stock is sold or about to be, and most of the bill comes back. You just need the right bridge, sized and timed so you’re not paying for money you’ve already got back.

That’s the kind of situation we like to work through. Enquiring takes about 60 seconds, and your credit file isn’t touched just for asking. A credit check only comes into it if you choose to go ahead with a specific option. We also don’t fire your details off to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t light up with strangers while you’re chasing your broker. A real person who knows the fast options reads your enquiry, including the size of the bill and your GST cycle, and calls you back. Please fill in the form accurately, especially turnover and any existing loans, so the first option we bring you is the one that gets the stock released.

See if you qualify →